TSJ #36, Chapter 16: Defeat

TOM SWIFT JR HAD CONFIGURED HIS time machine so it would appear in New York City about six hours before Irene arrived in the hyperplane. That will give me plenty of time to get set up and allow for a margin of error in my calculations, he thought. After all, if I cut things too close and the trigger turns out to be imprecise then I might miss her arrival entirely.

At first the jump into time travel gave Tom an abrupt case of nausea. After a few moments, however, the feeling subsided. He watched, fascinated, as shifting patterns of purple and blue flashed outside the window. I wonder if those patterns have a meaning, Tom thought. The atomicar was occasionally buffeted by turbulence but overall the ride was quite smooth.

When the indicator on the dashboard finally hit zero the purple lights vanished and reality returned. For a brief moment Tom had a gorgeous panoramic view of New York City. He could even see his father’s reactor in the distance – a sure sign that he had arrived at the correct moment in history.

Then, without warning, the semi violently struck something! There was a sickening crunching noise, followed by the sound of metal grinding against metal. Tom watched in horror as the semi’s trailer was ripped off and thrown across the sky! Its shattered remains plunged into the bay below and sank out of sight.

Tom had no time to dwell on this, however. A host of warning lights flashed on the dashboard and the semi rapidly lost altitude. The young inventor desperately tried to gun the repelatrons but they appeared to be inoperable. Tom was on the verge of panic. The power’s gone! As the semi plunged out of the sky he desperately worked at the controls, attempting to channel whatever energy was left to any repelatrons that might still be working.

With barely a thousand feet to spare one of the repelatrons weakly came to life. Tom gunned it. The descent slowed but did not stop. Tom quickly looked around for a safe place to crash and saw a vacant lot by a beach on the coast. He tried to aim the atomicar for that lot and then braced himself.

The semi plunged into the ground, scattering sand and bits of broken metal everywhere. Tom was nearly yanked from his seat as the semi skidded down the beach, tumbling once or twice before finally coming to rest on its side.

When the moving finally stopped Tom remained in the cab, trying to catch his breath. It took him a moment to regain his senses. He then unbuckled his seatbelt, climbed up the seat, threw open the door, and walked outside.

The semi was a mess. The damage was so great that it was almost unrecognizable. At least I survived, Tom thought. That’s something to be thankful for. There’s no telling what might have happened to the timeline if I’d been killed. Let’s see if there’s anything here that I can salvage.

Tom spent the next half-hour doing a thorough examination of the ruined semi. As he expected the cab was no longer drivable. However, two of the vehicle’s four atomic power capsules were still functioning, and Tom was able to reconnect them to the main power distributor. Once he had power back online he was able to jury-rig his time dilator. At least I can get back to the future now, he thought.

With a little effort he was able to salvage several of the repelatron dishes. It’s not pretty but I’ll be able to move the vehicle. The question is, where do I go?

It was at that point that Tom remembered what had happened to the trailer. His heart sank. The trailer contained all the equipment he needed to rescue Irene; without it he was helpless. Even the time trigger was stored there. There was no way he could build a Transmittaton in the few hours he had left, and even if he could, the science of the alien translator was beyond him.

I don’t understand, Tom thought helplessly. What went wrong? What could I possibly have collided with? There was nothing up there in the sky – nothing! How could I smash into an object that wasn’t even there? All my equipment is at the bottom of the bay now and is completely unsalvageable. What am I going to do now?

For a long time Tom did nothing. He sat on the beach and stared out to sea. To his left he could see his father’s power plant. He knew that if he waited long enough he would see the hyperplane streak overhead and crash into the ocean. I can’t watch her die, Tom thought. I can’t go through that again. It’s just not fair! Irene is alive right now and I can’t get to her. I can’t even see her!

Tom’s anger eventually faded, replaced by deep sorrow and regret – a grief beyond words. He found himself unable to move – unable to do anything. He just sat on the beach beside his ruined semi and waited for the inevitable.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed. His grief was so great that time no longer seemed to have a meaning. When it finally happened he almost missed it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something streak across the sky at an unbelievable pace. It soared off to the horizon and then came down to meet the ocean, which it struck with unbelievable force. There was a giant plume of water and smoke, and then it was all over.

The first time Irene died Tom had only heard about it after the fact. This time he was able to see it himself. It was a horrible feeling – the worst feeling in the world. Tom felt an overwhelming sorrow. It was as if he had died. He finally broke down and cried, and for a long time he did nothing else.

When the sun began to set Tom pulled himself together and stood up. I guess I’d better be getting home, he thought. All of the life had been drained out of him. He didn’t care about anything anymore, and he wasn’t sure if he would ever care about anything again. His world had just come to an end. For years he had hoped to go back in time and save Irene, and now that he’d been given that chance he found himself utterly defeated. A knife had been plunged into the heart of his dream. He wanted to just lay down and die.

As he climbed in the ruined cab he sighed. I guess I’d better go talk to Ed. Otherwise I won’t have a world to go home to.

He reached over to activate the time dilator and then stopped himself. “What am I doing?” he said aloud. “I can’t timeshift here! People would definitely notice a sphere of utter darkness on a beach – especially one that lasted for years on end. I’ve got to go find a place that’s a lot more secluded.”

Tom gunned the repelatrons and the ruined cab gingerly rose off the beach and righted itself. He then drove the cab out to sea and descended deep into the ocean, using the repelatrons to create a bubble of air around him. When he had reached what he felt was a safe level he configured the time dilator.

I’m going to do this right, Tom thought to himself. I don’t have a time machine anymore so I can’t go back if I miss my mark. He set the coordinates and pressed the button. The time dilator activated, and a moment later it turned itself off. It seemed like only a second had passed.

Let’s see if that thing still works, Tom thought. He activated the repelatrons and rose out of the ocean. The first thing he noticed was that his father’s Tomasite reactor was gone. He flew the ruined semi onto the beach, took out his pencil radio, and attempted to contact the outpost in space.

Laurence Grinsby answered. “Hey there, skipper! What’s up?”

“I need you to do me a favor,” Tom said. “Can you transport me to Ed Grinsby’s office?”

“Can do!” the Transmittaton chief answered cheerfully. “It sounds like you got those claytronic stones working!”

“You bet I did,” Tom replied evenly. “And it’s time to tell Ed all about it.”

The young inventor felt the Transmittaton tugging at him. There was a flash of light, and a moment later he materialized inside Ed’s office. The large man looked up at him in surprise. “Why Tom!” he exclaimed. “I see you’re not a man to waste time. Transport yourself right here – that’s the ticket! I like your style.”

Tom marched over to the desk and looked at Ed in the eye. “I will never give you the plans for my claytronic stones. Never! I will die before I see that information fall into your hands, you monster.”

Ed was completely taken aback. He was shocked at the genuine anger that radiated from Tom. “Why Tom! What’s happened? Did something go wrong?”

“Go wrong? I’ll say it went wrong! I gave those plans to you in good faith, Ed, after you promised to never use them. And do you know what you did? You used them to destroy the entire world! Every single last person on Earth died because you were too stupid to leave them alone.”

“What are you talking about?” Ed replied, gasping. “I don’t have the plans for your stones – you haven’t even given them to me yet! What are you talking about?”

“But I did give them to you,” Tom shouted. “On this very night I gave them to you, and you gave me the plans for the time trigger. It was the worst mistake I ever made! Billions of people died became I gave them to you. Do you know what it’s like to watch your whole world be destroyed?”

Ed stared at Tom, open-mouthed. He didn’t know what to say. “But if the whole world was destroyed, then – oh – you must be from the future. I guess you already have the time trigger plans, then.”

“If I didn’t,” Tom growled through gritted teeth, “you, and the rest of the world, would be dead by this time next week. And I am not going to let that happen again.”

Tom grabbed an ashtray off the desk and walked over to the filing cabinet that was behind Ed. He used it to bash the lock off of the top drawer, then yanked the drawer opened and grabbed the blue folder labeled “Time Trigger”. Without looking at its contents he grabbed a lighter off the desk, set the folder on fire, and tossed the flaming folder into the trashcan. Ed watched, shocked, as the plans burned to ashes.

“I guess that’s that, then,” Ed replied weakly. “But at least you can travel through time now. Have you rescued Irene yet?”

Tom stared at Ed, and then looked away. He tossed the ashtray and the lighter back on his desk. “Time travel doesn’t work that way,” he said at last. “I wasn’t able to rescue her. The only thing we accomplished here was the destruction of all life on earth. At least I can prevent that.”

“Well, thanks for stopping by,” Ed said weakly. “It’s always a pleasure to do business with you.”

The young inventor turned to look at Ed. “You haven’t seen the last of me. I’m going to be back to see if you’ve destroyed the Negative Zone or not. If I find out that you haven’t, not only will I destroy it myself, but I will personally see to it that you are placed in more trouble than you will ever be able to get out of. I have contacts in high places and can make sure you never see daylight again.”

“There’s no reason to threaten anyone,” Ed replied hastily. “Don’t give it another thought. I’m not a dangerous man.”

“That’s exactly the kind of thinking that destroyed the whole world,” Tom snarled. He stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind him, leaving a badly shaken man in his wake.